Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki raises the alarm that, in this severe ‘new pre-war’ security environment, “Efforts at peace through dialogue” are needed. (26jy23)


Splendor of Okinawa: Marigold,  roadside Uruma, 30jn23


While visiting Nagasaki, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki responded to queries from the Nagasaki Shimbun.


Okinawa bears an extraordinary burden of US Military bases as well as the ongoing opening of Japan Self Defense Force (SDF) bases in the Ryukyu Chain. However, Sasebo, which also hosts US and SDF military bases, touts its ‘Symbiotic coexistence with the bases’. But, Governor Tamaki has a different way of thinking on the US-Japan Security Treaty and such. He stressed, “If peace and a bountiful future are linked, efforts for dialogue need not be deemed lamentable.”


There is a difference in perception over the US Military bases between Okinawa and Sasebo City in Nagasaki Prefecture. In Okinawa, training takes place adjacent to areas where civilians live. So, problems arise over crimes, accidents, and such. The governor stressed, “No matter what sort of living environment you’ve placed yourself in, you feel extremely near the bases.”


As to the current military buildup in Okinawa, the governor emphasized, ”We want to see it in conjunction with a decreasing burden of US Military bases. A great many of our prefecture’s people are saying, ‘We will continue to raise awareness that we must not become targets of attack anew’, because of these deployments.”


Moreover, the governor pointed out, “It’s most essential that we build up, day by day, a purposeful mutual understanding that our counterparts are really our partners, with the key point being a future of more peaceful diplomacy.”


In December of last year, the ‘3 documents of the Security Treaty’, clarifying the possession of retaliatory capacity, the ability to counter attack against enemy bases, created a turning point. The governor offered his candid advice, “It is essential that the National Government earnestly explain all this to the Nation’s people.” The governor further stated, “While the impact of the US Military base is huge for us, the thinking in places where there is almost no impact at all is totally different”, even within Okinawa Prefecture itself. Even here in Nagasaki Prefecture, the difference in perception of the Security Treaty can be seen between Nagasaki City and Sasebo. The governor pointed out, “Understanding is possible in places that are alike.”


Then, alluding to the atomic bomb disaster unique to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he stressed, “The important theme is of the atomic bomb on humanity.” 


In recent years, gossip has been swirling around the ‘severe environment of the Security Treaty in the Asia-Pacific region. Voices have strongly arisen that such a situation be dealt with. Opposition to voices unsympathetic to that view have become powerful. “They cry out the alert, ‘We’ll end up in a new pre-war environment’.” The governor stressed with his tone,  “We still have with us, as you well know, those who felt firsthand the suffering of war and the atomic bomb. We have an obligation to proclaim, ‘That kind of society must never come about again!’  We have a duty to pass that message on, with dignity.”





Original Japanese article: Nagasaki Shimbun, Friday 21 July 2023 at 11:00. 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e5268526adbab8f0ed8c65529306e3f96f6e0dd5


Denny in the News: news about Governor Denny Tamaki.


Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 


This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 


Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.


Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.



 

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